Your child can excel at chess faster than you'd expect.

It's 8+ hours and 80+ bite-sized lessons across four levels, built on the same method Elliott's own kids learned from before they became state grade-level champions.

Home — I'm a parent School — I'm a teacher

Real kids. Real rating jumps.

Verified against official USCF ratings.

+308in 4 months

Luca climbed fast once the lessons clicked.

+528in 9 months · age 10

Ethan, one level at a time.

+369in 12 months · age 11

Max, steady and self-driven.

Who are you teaching?

Pick the method that fits, and we'll show you the right path.

My own child, at home

A parent giving their kid a real coach — fun, fast, and built for a kid's attention span.

Family Library →

A classroom of students

A teacher or co-op leader who wants a done-for-you program to run with a whole room.

Classroom Solution →

Meet your guide, National Master Elliott Neff

Elliott has trained 10,000+ students and built this course so you can coach your own child or classroom through it. Beyond the recorded lessons, he also teaches live, giving parents and teachers direct help to support their training goals. In this short video, Elliott shows how that live training works. See the live session below.

Elliott teaches live for parents and teachers, too.

See the live session ↓

Who are Elliott and Chess4Life?

Elliott Neff is a National Master and the founder of Chess4Life — a chess-education company built on using the game to grow real life skills in kids.

USCF Level V — the highest coaching certification awarded
10,000+ students trained
150,000+ students using Chess4Life tools every year
Defeated a former U.S. Champion
Drew World Champion Viswanathan Anand in a simul
Chess4Life named to the Inc. 5000

A real journey, from first move to advanced play

Not random videos. A designed progression a child climbs, one bite-sized lesson at a time.

8+hours of instruction

80+bite-sized lessons

4full levels

Elliott's Chess School — the four-level video series

01

Pawn

The foundation — how the pieces move, think, and work together.

02

Knight

Real tactics and patterns — spotting the winning move.

03

Bishop

Strategy and planning — thinking several moves ahead.

04

Rook

Advanced play — the depth that separates strong players.

Practice that makes every lesson stick

These are the same Chess4Life workbooks used in Elliott's classes, matched topic by topic to the video lessons.

2,700exercises to solve

450worksheet pages

15workbooks · 4 levels

Every lesson has a worksheet, and every worksheet has six exercises. Your child watches Elliott explain the idea, then works the exercises on paper or on screen and checks the answer key in the back. Ten topics per workbook, four levels, from setting up the board to blindfold chess.

The complete Elliott's Chess School: four DVD levels plus 15 workbooks

Now 100% digital

The whole program, minus the shelf space

This once shipped as a box of DVDs and 15 printed workbooks. Today it's the same complete program, instant, streamable, and downloadable, for a fraction of the old price. Choose your version below.

The Family Library

Give your child the same coach my brother's own kids had, and own it for good.

For your home

Elliott's Complete Video Library

All four levels, all 80+ lessons, 8+ hours of a National Master's teaching, the same method Elliott's own kids learned from.

All 4 levels: Pawn, Knight, Bishop, Rook
80+ bite-sized lessons (~6 min each)
Pawn Workbooks 1 and 2 included, 60 pages and 360 exercises to start
Yours to keep, no subscription

$79 videos + your first 2 workbooks

Get the Complete Package

All 15 workbooks (450 worksheet pages, 2,700 exercises) added to the full video course, for just $40 more than the videos alone. In print, the workbooks sell for $187 on their own.

$119 everything: videos + all 15 workbooks

The Classroom Solution

One purchase — print every worksheet for your whole class.

For your classroom

Bring Elliott's Chess School to a whole room of kids

The complete video library plus the workbooks — with permission to print worksheets for every student you teach.

Complete video library, all 4 levels
Print worksheets for every student as you need them, a massive savings you can invest elsewhere. Your classroom print rights replace all of it.
Workbooks as ready-to-print digital masters
Permission to show and reproduce for one teacher & classroom

Running multiple classrooms or district-wide? Reach out and we'll make an introduction to Chess4Life.

$179 videos + first level: 4 workbooks, 720 exercises · print for your class

Get the Entire Series

All 15 workbooks — 450 worksheet pages and 2,700 exercises — with print rights for your whole class, just $70 more than the first level. In print that's a $187 workbook set per student; here it covers the whole room.

$249 (single classroom print rights — 10× value over buying the workbooks individually)

Live with Elliott

Two secrets to help any player improve — fast

This one live session with National Master Elliott Neff is valuable for parents and teachers alike. Pick your view below and watch why people are joining.

$249 $47 live session + recording

This is for any level. You'll have an opportunity to join next month's live session, and the date will be announced in a follow-up email at the beginning of that month. If you can't make it live, you'll have the recording.

Backed by our promise: join the session, and if you're not thrilled, you get 100% of your money back.

If you're not thrilled, you don't pay.

Join Elliott's live session and put the two secrets to work. If it's not everything you hoped, tell us — you get 100% of your money back. The risk is entirely ours.

I've recommended learning tools for 25 years. This one's foundational.

My brother Elliott is a National Master — far better than I'll ever be. But every so often, in a one-minute blitz game, I actually beat him. The only reason a regular player like me can take down a master is that I grew up learning from one.

That's what this is: my brother's method, in your hands, for your kids.

If you've been waiting for the right way to get your child — or your classroom — into chess, start here.

Get the Family Library Get the Classroom Solution

♟ Exhibit A

Watch a regular player beat a Master. (Occasionally.)

Elliott's the National Master. I'm his brother — a perfectly ordinary player. But every so often, in a one-minute blitz, I actually take him down. The only reason I can? I grew up on the exact method that's in this program. Give your kid the same head start.

Printed workbooks

Prefer physical copies in kids' hands? The printed workbooks are available for purchase any time as well. We print and ship the full set, with bulk discounts for classrooms — up to 30% off per 10 copies. Digital is the smart default; print is here whenever you want it.